A worker walks through the TransCanada Corp. Houston Lateral Project pipe yard in Mont Belvieu, Texas, on Wednesday. Russ Girling, TransCanada Corp. president and chief executive officer, said he remains “optimistic” that market forces will see that the embattled Keystone XL oil sands pipeline is built, but the real question is when. (Scott Dalton, Bloomberg)

Immigration reform and the Keystone XL oil pipeline are two policies caught in the polarized politics of Washington, D.C. If public opinion were the guide, both would be approved.

Republican House members are responsible for the current stalemate over immigration reform after the Senate passed a comprehensive bill in the summer of 2013. Meanwhile, the White House is stonewalling a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline by demanding additional environmental studies even after a recent 11-volume study indicated it would not have a significant effect on greenhouse gases.

Since both issues have public support, these stalemates are more about politics than policy. The latest Quinnipiac survey showing Coloradans’ support for moving forward on immigration reform mirrors national polls, with 59 percent in favor of allowing immigrants here without documentation “to stay in the U.S. and to eventually apply for U.S. citizenship.” Only one-quarter of the public supports the option to “require them to leave the U.S.”

Dozens of national surveys conducted during the last year of debate on the immigration issue show that a majority of Republicans support allowing the 11 million people here with documentation to have a path to citizenship with conditions, such as a waiting period, paying back taxes, passing criminal background checks and learning English.

It appeared that the stars might align for some type of legislation from the House this year. By breaking the legislation into distinct pieces, Republican House leaders thought they had a path to passage as recently as early February. President Obama indicated flexibility, saying he could support a legal status that falls short of full citizenship. But suddenly, Republicans claim that distrust of the president is so pervasive in the Republican caucus that legislation is unlikely to pass this year. More likely, as the midterm elections approach, Republicans recognize the legislation will highlight differences among some elements of their members and with their base.

Republicans believe they can win the Senate and hold the House in the 2014 election by just avoiding internal fighting and riding in the wake of the chaotic Obamacare implementation.

But, if a breakdown in achieving immigration reform highlights Republicans’ political self-interest and a caving to their special interests, the Keystone pipeline may be just as embarrassing for the White House.

Even before its recent environmental clearance, the pipeline has enjoyed national support during the last five years that it has been under debate. Pew Research and other credible national polls show broad support at or above 60 percent, including a majority of Democrats, based on a lack of evidence of a greenhouse gas effect, the desire for energy independence, and the project’s potential to boost the economy. Most recently, former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar endorsed it, along with a host of Senate Democrats vulnerable in re-election.

The challenge facing the White House is that wealthy environmentalists have been staging huge and well-financed mobilization around the issue and promise, Tea Party-style, to punish Democrats who waver with negative advertising and with primary challenges from candidates who oppose the pipeline. The Washington Post editorial page, in an endorsement of the pipeline, summed up progressive business and centrist Democratic objections by saying that this is the wrong fight. The pipeline is a minor issue in a much more important set of policy goals concerning climate change, such as emission standards on gas and coal.

Like Republicans on immigration reform, President Obama appears to be held captive by his own special interests and a contributor to the stalemate.

Although political parties and leaders are seldom slaves to public opinion, in a democracy it is the preferences of the public that tend to win out.

Floyd Ciruli is adjunct professor of public opinion at the Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver.